Hopeless
by Postquam est
Summary: What is it like to be programmed to live forever, even when the world ceases to improve? What is it like to be left alone in a world without hope? Even when most have turned to desperate measures, eight Vocaloids remain. Based loosely on Near Future City.


**Well, this isn't exactly a happy fun story. I've decided to try my hand at writing more serious and depressing stuff. It's not guaranteed to continue, but I won't mind continuing it if I get some support.**

* * *

"Are_ you ready?"_

_Miku looked in horror at the dirtied survivors around her. They wore grim expressions, standing at different distances along the dark and devastated street. Black clouds overhead swirled, and debris fell from the sky with ashy raindrops._

_She looked desperately toward blonde twins, searching for some sort of hope in their eyes. For a moment, she had a vision of an empty alleyway, a single broken roadroller giving off any color in the black void of emptiness. The small blonde girl closed her eyes and clenched her fist, while the boy next to her gave Miku a sad smile._

_She looked over towards a pink haired woman, who held a single white cat, its fur no longer representing purity, rather, it was choked grey by destruction. The woman's eyes met Miku's, and Miku could see a tower, stretching into pink skies of desperation. The woman set the cat down, keeping her eyes lowered afterwards._

_Miku looked towards another girl with green hair, whose always optimistic smile no longer lingered, but was replaced by hate and determination. She gritted her teeth, before assuming a straight face for a moment and saluted solemnly to Miku. Miku envisioned the empty highway, broken and crumbled, and the black clouds of reality finally having taken over. _

_Miku felt a tear slip down her cheek. Time was slowing down. The orange glow that was filling the area illuminated the faces surrounding Miku, making them appear grotesque. Miku turned and saw the fire, saw the burning memories of the city, the burning memories of the world. She swallowed and turned back to her friends in what seemed like slow motion. The fire was forming a circle around them all._

_Miku looked hopelessly over at a woman with short brown hair, who bowed her head and raised her eyes to meet Miku's in a burning gaze of firmness. Miku tilted her face towards the sky and closed her eyes, feeling more tears fall. She saw the empty wasteland, stripped to cracked rocks, slowly starving life. She opened her eyes again and slowly lowered her head in a slight bow, with all respect to the woman._

_Miku squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to look at that one last person again. However, she reopened her eyes, which were getting clouded by debris and smoke, and did her best to focus on the blue haired man, standing calmly in the midst of the rubble, giving her a small smile...of hope._

_"Then...it's over..." Miku mouthed, her voice failing her. "It's over!" she cried louder. All of her companions stared at her, and the flames continued to dance around them. Miku stretched her hands towards the sky with a desperate shriek. She fell to her knees, trembling under the weight of the darkness. Her hands fell limply to the ground._

_She felt a rough hand take hold of hers, and looked up through fuzzy vision to see the familiar face of the blue haired man, still smiling._

_"But you're not alone," he said quietly, and Miku realized he was crying._

_"It's not over yet," another voice said, and Miku looked to her left to see the faces of the twins, both with tearstains showing through the layer of dirt. The boy held out a hand, and Miku stood slowly and took it. The girl held the boy's free hand, and stood facing the oncoming fire. Miku let the orange flames flicker in her widened eyes for a moment, before gazing around her as if in a trance._

_The bitter desperation returned to her features as she saw the blue haired man to her right grab the pink haired woman's hand, then as she took the green haired girl's hand, then as that girl held the brown haired woman's hand, and finally, the woman completing the small circle by solemnly taking the blonde girl's hand._

_The seven all faced the fire in their defiant circle. Miku continued to look left and right as the circle of flames mocked them all by refusing to engulf them. Tears burned down her cheeks as Miku silently begged the fire to grow. She closed her eyes, and suddenly she could hear the voices of those around her._

_"Goodbye..." the man to her right whispered._

_"I'll miss you," the pink haired woman said._

_"In another world..." the green haired girl started firmly._

_"...We'll meet again!" the brown haired woman cried._

_"I'm sure of it!" the twins yelled in unison._

_Miku's lip quivered as all of the emotion built up in her finally released itself in one final sob..._

Miku woke up from the nightmare in cold sweat. Her breathing was fast and uneven as she struggled to sit up in bed and grab her phone off of her bedside drawer and began to text.

_To: Kaito_

_Message: I had a nightmare again :(_

She sighed as she leaned back against the wall and pushed the blankets off of herself. Within the next minute she received a reply on her phone. She smiled, despite her situation. She could always depend on Kaito for company, even at-she glanced at the clock-three in the morning.

Pushing her bangs up on her forehead with one hand, she opened the message with her other hand.

_To: Miku_

_Message: I'm sorry :( Which one? I'll come over if you can't sleep._

Miku texted as quickly as she could with one hand, still trying to wipe away the sweat with the other.

_To: Kaito_

_Message: The one about seven people in the circle of fire._

Miku sighed. She had gone through the same three nightmares over and over, but this one was the one that reoccured the most.

_To: Miku_

_Message: I see. I'll be right over, then._

Miku smiled slightly as a tear slipped down her face. She wiped it away. Why had it fallen? She knew exactly why. The better question was, how did the dream feel so real? She felt as if she knew everyone there personally, even though she didn't recognize any of them, except the blue haired man...

Miku switched on a lamp on her nightstand and opened the curtains that covered the small window next to her bed, twisting to look outside. It was dark, but not the gloomy darkness of the dream. It was a darkness lit by streetlights and a pale full moon. Miku's eyes lost focus, and for a moment, she stared at her faint reflection in the mirror.

She jumped slightly as she heard a knock at her door, and rushed over to open it. In the doorway was a man with blue hair: Kaito. Miku's eyes shone with gratitude as she embraced him quickly, letting her head rest against his chest.

She felt his arms wrap around her protectively, and for a moment, Miku was calm. Then, the dream replayed in her mind, and soft tears quickly turned into sobs that wracked her body as she held on tightly to her only current reality.

"_Goodbye_"

"_I'll miss you_"

"_In another world..._"

"._..We'll meet again_"

"_I'm sure of it_"

"I'm so confused!" she choked. "Why can't I have a normal life?"

Kaito gently stroked Miku's hair. "I can't answer that," he whispered. "And I don't need to. Your future...will often be decided by those you can't control. It's how you were made."

Miku looked up at Kaito through teary eyes. "How much longer? It's so painful..."

* * *

Piercing blue eyes stared intently at a magazine article that had been cut from its original magazine.

_HIGHLIGHTS OF HISTORY_

_For today's highlight, we'll be researching a bit about the old singing sensation, VOCALOID. Some of the older citizens may remember this program, but for those of you who don't, we'll provide some information._

_VOCALOID was originally a program that created individual singing androids that had extremely accurate human appearances, but inhuman abilities, including extremely capable computer-like minds and a system that doesn't require any battery to continue to run. Scattered throughout many different cities and countries, and rarely coming in contact with each other, these were created so that the same singers could sing different songs written for them over many years, with no change due to age or other problems that occur with humans._

_Through patient development, these singers became more and more adept at what they were created for. However, like all things, society just lost interest. VOCALOID androids, since they couldn't die, but were no longer being used, were forgotten among the common faces of society. After the major data wipeout of the last decade, almost all songs were lost, and any remaining memories are only within the mind._

_Some, like us, the writers of this article, have dedicated their lives to research on these key parts in the development of today's future, and cherish any information that can be found. There is still a small search going on for any of the remaining VOCALOID androids, and there is hope that one day, one of these unique creations may be found, and studied for furthering of military development._

_~Did you know? VOCALOID androids with their colorful hair were the trendsetters for today's modern hair-coloring operations.~_

The girl reading the article smirked, before folding up the article and tucking it in her pillowcase, while sitting cross-legged on her neatly made bed.

"Len!" she called, "Are you ready for school yet?"

"Yeah!" came the muffled response. A blonde haired boy appeared in the doorway of the girl's room, a backpack slung over his shoulder. "First day of highschool, round 88," he said with fake enthusiasm.

"87," the girl corrected him.

"Oh, right, they held us back in eigth grade at that one school for 'security issues'..." the boy said thoughtfully, before shrugging. "You think we should skip this year? I mean, highschool gets pretty boring after a while..." he added.

The girl uncrossed her legs and slid off her bed. "Nope, because if we skip school, people might get suspicious," she said firmly, grabbing her backpack and walking past Len.

The boy sighed. "Fine, Miss Goody Rin-Rin," he said, with a pout. "Which school is it this year?" he asked, as he jogged a little bit to catch up with her as she walked out the front door of their modest home and started down the street that was just barely being lit with the rising sun.

"I think we should go to that one that was remodeling when we went last. I want to see what it looks like now," Rin replied, without breaking stride.

"That's like an hour away," Len complained, checking his watch.

"Yes, good thing we left early," came Rin's dry response, as she came to a halt at the bus stop. As Len and Rin sat down on a bench and waited for the bus to arrive, little droplets started to fall from the sky. Len and Rin both looked up simultaneously, squinting at the sudden clouds.

Rin huffed. "I forgot an umbrella," she mumbled, and pulled a notebook out of her backpack to shield her head with. Len just unzipped his apparently empty backpack and stuck it over his head.

Rin stared at him in disbelief and rolled her eyes. "87 years of highschool, and you still can't remember what to bring?" she asked. She heard a muffled sound, but couldn't make out the words, so she just chose to ignore her twin brother's ignorance.

She had to smile despiter herself though; she knew Len was just trying to make her laugh. He was her only light left in the quickly degrading world, and she was his.

"Hey, smart one, the bus is here," Rin said, and stood as the bus came to a slow stop. Len took the backpack off of his head and darted past Rin and into the bus. Rin shook her head slowly as she also boarded the bus. "You'd better be thankful that I take the time to organize our schedule, otherwise you'd be lost within 24 hours, not to mention that we wouldn't be allowed into the highschool," she called after him.

The twins made their way to the very back of the bus, since they were the only ones, and Rin dug through her backpack before finding a book, which she proceeded to open and read.

Len leaned over and read over her shoulder. "What is this?" he asked curiously.

"Summer reading," Rin replied, without looking up.

"Summer reading?" Len smacked his forehead. "Why didn't you bring that up earlier?"

Rin finally looked up. "Eh, I didn't pick the school until last month. Besides, I remember that this school doesn't test over summer reading. They don't believe in forcing homework on kids during their breaks."

"So why are you even reading that?"

Rin shrugged. "I remember when it was new," she said, looking back down at the book. "It's a pretty good book."

Len's expression darkened. "We really are old, aren't we?" he asked quietly.

Rin looked back up. "Depends on what you mean by that," she answered lightly, though her face was also serious.

"...Are we going to live like this...forever?" Len asked, worry taking over his demeanor.

"Forever _is_ a long time," Rin whispered, staring at nothing in particular. Len stared at her, and realized tears were slipping down her face. His eyes widened.

"No, I'm sorry, Rin," he said quickly, grabbing her hand. "I shouldn't have brought it up. Please don't cry," he pleaded, squeezing her hand in reassurement.

"We're really all alone..." Rin continued to mumble. "We're a separate creation. What am I thinking? We'll never be normal..."

"Don't think like that," Len said quietly. "You're wonderful. Don't be as weak as the others. We'll continue, no matter what the world thinks of us."

"Why can't we be like the others?"

Len gritted his teeth. "Listen, Rin. I don't know what happened to them. I don't understand what would happen to us. I don't know anything. But I don't want to give up...because I can't stand the thought of being without you," he said, as his voice failed him.

More tears flowed down Rin's face. "I can't live with this emptiness, though," she said. "The world is no longer getting better. It's only getting worse..."

Len grabbed Rin's shoulders and forced her to meet his eyes. "Don't say that you live in emptiness, when I'm right here with you," he said sternly, and quickly hugged his sister. "Please don't."

* * *

A peaceful-looking woman with pink hair picked up her small white cat and stroked its head affectionately. "Let's open that letter from your old master, shall we?" she asked it eagerly. The cat mewed and the woman set it down, before grabbing an envelope from a counter and tore it open gently.

She glanced at the cat as she walked over to a soft black chair that occupied her living room and sat down comfortably. The cat jumped up onto her lap, and she began to read the letter.

"_My dear Luka,_

_Your last letter was very nice to see. I'm glad we've been able to keep in contact for these past few years. I promise that I'll come back once I've finally succeeded. I really do want the world to become a better place. The only way that can happen is if someone makes a stand, and I wish to do that._

_I've been developing robots that can be used to conquer different countries. These will be the key to uniting the world, I'm sure of it. After many business trips, I've been able to gather enough support to start my project. I'm very excited, and I hope you are too._

_However, there is some bad news. I managed to run into your old friend, Kiyoteru, and he mentioned that Yuki couldn't take it any more. He said that her mind was programmed to be too naive. The brutal views of the world became too much for her, and she jumped. Now he's thinking of following along._

Luka stopped reading for a moment and placed a hand over her heart. "I'm so sorry, Yuki," she said quietly. She couldn't bear to imagine someone as sweet and innocent as Yuki deciding to end her existence in such a way.

_I'm genuinely glad that someone like you has never been that desperate. Even when I left you to try to chase my own dreams, you still keep going, and I'm thankful for that. I love you, Luka, and I promise the world will get better for us. It has to._

_With best wishes,_

_Gakupo_

Luka set the letter down on the coffee table in front of her, and stroked the cat absentmindedly. She still remembered the time when Gakupo left, having been only seven years earlier.

_"I can't stay here; I'm sorry," Gakupo said calmly. "The world is no longer improving. Everyone thinks everything has been solved, but that's only a delusion. I want to really solve everything," he explained for the tenth time._

_Luka's angry expression never left. "If the world needed to solve its problems, it would do it itself!" she cried. "It doesn't need you!"_

_"Don't you understand? We're both part of this world!" Gakupo said, desperation edging his voice. "We are the ones that solve the problems! If we don't, no one else will, because they're all saying the same thing you are!"_

_"Then let the world have problems," Luka said, throwing her hands up into the air. "It always has."_

_Gakupo sighed. "I'm going to fix them. I promise. You can still come if you want," he offered._

_Luka choked back a gasp as she realized there was no changing his mind. She lowered her gaze. "No. I can't. That's not my job. It's not yours, either, but I can see you won't believe that."_

_"Promise me you'll return my letters, then," Gakupo said quietly. "And take care of Tako."_

_Luka bowed her head and stifled sobs could be heard. Gakupo reached out and gently lifted Luka's chin. She forced a small smile through her tears. "I promise," she said, and closed her eyes to stop the flow of tears._

_In the next moment, she felt a kiss on her cheek, and opened her eyes to see Gakupo turning to go out the door. "Goodbye," she whispered._

Luka looked down at the cat. "Tako...it's such a funny name for a cat."

The cat jumped down off of Luka's lap and ran to the glass door that led to Luka's small backyard which had been turned into a flower garden. Luka smiled and got up from her seat, crossing the room to go open the door for the cat. The cat darted outside, scampering through flowerbeds.

"Tako!" Luka shouted, and clapped her hands. "You'll get dirty!" she scolded. The cat, as if it were making fun of Luka's warning, dropped onto the ground and rolled onto its back, mewing for attention.

Luka sighed. "There was a time when you always stayed clean...but now you keep getting dirty..." she mumbled.

She shook her head. "How many more years?" she asked as she bent down to stroke Tako's tummy. "I thought I could live happily with Gakupo. I thought I could at least stay happy that way. But now...without him...will I still wait?"

Finding a small comfort in the conversation with the unresponsive cat, Luka sat down next to it. "How many do you think are left? Yuki...Kiyoteru...they're gone now...how many others have gone down the same path? How many others have met the same fate? How many have realized that the world they were brought into was at its peak, and is now declining? How many are desperate for a change? Does the number even matter? Am I...part of that number?"

Luka stared wide-eyed at the cat, suddenly realizing that she was on the edge of desperation as well. She squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her fist around a handfull of dirt. "No," she answered herself. "I'm waiting for Gakupo to succeed. Even if I am a coward, I will not let down Gakupo."

Luka picked up the dirty cat and brought it inside, before grabbing the abandoned letter off the coffee table and walking down a hallway. Nearing the end of the hallway, she finally entered a dark room and crossed it, heading straight for a covered window.

She pulled back the curtains and yanked the window up, sqinting in the sudden light. The sound of fluttering filled the room as the breeze entered, and Luka turned to survey her collection: seven years' worth of letters. Her eyes followed the walls around the room until she spotted where she had put the most recent letter.

Grabbing a small wad of a sticky substance she kept in a jar on the windowsill, she stuck the letter on the wall, right next to the previous one. Though Gakupo was always moving, and Luka could not always count on the letters to reach him, he never failed to send her letters on a regular basis.

Luka gazed around the room, knowing he really did care about her. "So how can we have such different views?" she asked aloud.

* * *

A girl who looked to be in her late teens smiled confidently as she walked down the street, listening to her music player with only one earphone in. As she reached a corner, she hastily tucked the player away in a pocket of her outfit, and entered the little restaurant where she worked as a waitress.

She walked to the back of the restaurant and past a door labeled "staff only" and continued until she spotted her best friend.

"Hey, can you tell the boss I'm taking today off? Don't worry though, I already agreed with my partner on how to cover the work. Thanks a lot," she said, giving a small wave and turning to leave without waiting for a response.

"Sure thing, Gumi..." her friend called after her, shaking her head and smiling.

Gumi took out her music player again and continued listening to music as she walked along the street, humming softly as she went. Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks and yanked out her earphone. She listened intently for a moment, before smiling knowingly.

"It seems the mood has fallen, hm?" she said aloud to no one in particular. "It's a shame I can't be there to cheer them up," she continued. "But what has caused this sudden, or rather not so sudden, change in attitude?"

Suddenly Gumi's walk turned from a stroll to a quick walk of purpose. Making her way along many streets and sidewalks with the speed of experience, she finally ended up at a radio tower. She began to climb, and if anyone had been watching, they would have realized that Gumi either possessed extremely unnatural strength, or was not in fact human at all.

Gumi continued her climb and reached the precarious top of the tower with practiced foot placement. Closing her eyes, she appeared to be concentrating on something. The smile she usually wore was slowly replaced with a frown of thought as she kept her eyes closed.

After a while, Gumi's smile returned and she began to make her way back down the tower. There was no sign of fear in her eyes, and it was obvious that she was very used to the climb. At the bottom, she brushed off her shorts and nodded with satisfaction.

"It seems," she said to herself, "that we have all sensed something, though some of us or more aware than others." She grinned and rubbed her palms together. "So it begins."

Gumi pulled a journal out of the bag she wore over her shoulder and flipped it open, also grabbing a pen. She sat down next to the radio tower and tilted her head to the side as she began to write.

"_I can sense many emotions now. There's a lot of anger, and also a lot of sadness. Some emotions are jealous, or desperate, or the few and far apart that are hopeful. But I can also sense the special emotions. The ones that weren't natural. The ones that were learned, or programmed. Those emotions...they're all suffering. All of them. Judging from that, they all know. They all know what the real emotions don't know._

_They must be the same as me. I know they have to be. I know I will find them soon, and I must find them soon now, because we don't have much time left. The one special emotion that holds jealousy will bring it about. I don't know what, but I am confident that I will feel it. I look forward to the exciting new prospects that the future holds._"

Gumi smiled confidently once again, but felt it slipping away as her hands started flipping the pages of the journal until she reached the very last page. She couldn't stop herself from looking again. As her eyes came to rest on the very last page, she swallowed and her eyes narrowed slightly.

"_You can talk about how you feel and understand emotions all you want, Gumi, but you will never understand reality._"

Gumi's expression darkened.

_The girl sat on a railing at the edge of a large ship. She turned around, smiling at the person behind her, almost mocking. She turned to face the expanse of ocean that lay in front of her, and with one final laugh, she threw a weight that was tied to her ankle into the water and quickly dove in after it, the sound of her splash cut short by a choked scream:_

_"Lily!"_

_Teardrops splashed to the ground in front of the shoes belonging to the onlooker. A book thumped as it fell to the ground, lying open on the last page, where the message was written in fresh ink._

Gumi stood with sudden resolution, shaking her thoughts from her mind. Picking up the journal, she gritted her teeth and threw the book as far as possible. Her glaring expression seemed to encourage the book as it soared quite a distance away.

She stared at the pen in her hand as if looking at it could destroy it, before pointing it at her arm and driving it into her skin as hard as she could. She continued to stare as she let go of the pen and let it fall to the ground, and watched as the small wound in her arm disappeared within seconds.

She growled as she left the pen on the ground and walked quickly away from the scene, following a sidewalk back into the city, and putting both of her earphones in her ears.

"I may be ignoring reality, but that doesn't mean I don't understand it," she said quietly, a sly smile forming on the corners of her lips.

* * *

A woman with short brown hair leaned against a tree in the midst of a green meadow. She looked at the peaceful surroundings, smiling as she thought about her hidden corner of the world. A worrying thought passed through her mind, and her eyes widened in an instant as she recalled the event from the distant past.

_A man with purple hair walked towards the woman with brown hair. His expression didn't give away his intentions, hidden by a mysterious small smile._

_The woman started with shock, and cautiously took a step forward. "May I ask what you're doing here?" she asked._

_"My name is Gakupo. I am on a mission to make the world a better place," he stated._

_"That doesn't tell me anything about why you're here, specifically, though."_

_"I've been searching all over for inspiration," Gakupo replied simply. "And, a certain item has caught my attention." He smiled and pointed at a large pile of grey boulders, partially covered in moss. Upon closer inspection, the pile could be identified as a large robot._

_"I don't know how that got here," the woman said firmly. "This is the special place I have adopted for the creations that man has abandoned," she said, her voice losing some of its authoritative sound._

_"Creations that man has abandoned?" Gakupo asked slowly. He smiled. "You are a creation that man has abandoned. What is your name?"_

_"Meiko."_

_"Well, Meiko," Gakupo said lightly, "I wish to change that. May I study this robot?"_

_Meiko studied Gakupo for a while. Finally, she nodded once. "Don't take it away from this meadow, though," she warned. Gakupo nodded, and then remained motionless for a moment. After a brief silence, he suddenly pulled a thin white scarf from a pocket inside the jacket he was wearing._

_"Please take this. As my promise. It's the life that will be gained when I succeed with my mission."_

_Meiko looked at Gakupo suspiciously. Why would he even have something like that? Nonetheless, she accepted the scarf, and Gakupo smiled and left, fading away into the distance. Meiko rose from her spot and began her trek to find a new place to let her mind wander._

Meiko had long since abandoned the old robot, leaving it completely to Gakupo. Now she spent her free time in another section of the meadow, for it was quite vast. She always held onto the scarf though, wanting to believe the man's promise. He had seen right through her. There was an unspoken understanding between the two; Meiko wished for an equal world, and he wished for a new beginning. The unspoken understanding was that one would bring about the other, and Meiko was secretly depending on Gakupo to fulfill that change.

Meiko smiled lightly as she surveyed the landscape that was full of life around her. It was one of the few and rare places left on earth that still kept its natural beauty. She was lucky to have found it, though it hadn't been easy. As a result, Meiko hardly left the area, never wanting to leave it vulnerable to selfish beings, though ironically she could consider herself one.

Something more pained Meiko, though. As she rubbed the thin scarf, she wondered about Gakupo's mission, and why she had just remembered it. If Gakupo was right, and life would be gained when he succeeded, was he implying that there wasn't enough life already? Was he planning to get rid of that life in order to make way for new life...? She didn't really want to think about his methods, but she wasn't planning on getting in his way just because she happened to meet him in the middle of his mission.

A sudden realization hit Meiko, along with an unexplained sense of urgency. Gakupo was studying a robot. He wanted new life. Meiko had her suspicions that Gakupo was in fact an android, like herself. As she filled in the holes, Meiko came to realize that Gakupo planned to get rid of mankind and replace it with robots.

Meiko shot up from her peaceful spot. She began running, though it had been a long time since she saw Gakupo. She tried to remember where it was, and ran in the direction that her instinct took her.

Meiko's eyes widened as she finally stumbled upon her old spot by the robot. The only problem was that the robot was missing.

"I have to warn others..." Meiko murmured aloud as she stared at the dented spot in the ground where grass was still trying to fill in. Snapping out of her trance, Meiko quickly looked back and forth, trying to figure out which direction would take her to town the quickest.

Deciding on a whim, Meiko took off in a run, pondering whom to tell. "I wonder if Miku's still around..."

* * *

**So, should I continue it? No matter how much you liked it, thanks for reading anyway!**


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